Two Title Fights Festoon Saturday’s DAZN Card at Turning Stone

In a fight that is certainly guaranteed to bring action, WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol defends his title against Joe Smith Jr. Saturday at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, NY. The fight headlines a deep card that will be shown live on DAZN in the United States.

Bivol (15-0, 11 KO’s) is a former decorated amateur star who has been on the fast track since turning pro in 2014. An aggressive boxer-puncher by nature, he will look to work behind a potent left jab to set up his heavy handed combinations. With his last two fights having gone the 12 round distance, Bivol will certainly be looking for the knockout and to make a statement in his debut on DAZN.

Smith (24-2, 20 KO’s) was boxing’s Cinderella story in 2016 when he scored upset knockout wins against Andrzej Fonfara and Bernard Hopkins. But a subsequent loss the following year in which he was out-boxed by Sullivan Barrera curtailed his momentum. After a bounce back knockout win last year, Smith is getting his first world title shot against Bivol.

Smith is a straight forward brawler who comes in looking for the knockout. And he possesses legitimate one punch power in both hands. Bivol is an aggressive offensive minded fighter who is not afraid to get into exchanges. This will surely be a firefight that is hard to envision not ending in a knockout.

Undercard

 In the co-feature, Maurice Hooker (25-0-3, 17 KO’s) makes the second defense of his WBO 140 -pound title against Mikkel LesPierre (21-0-1, 10 KO’s).

Hooker enjoyed a breakout year in 2017 with a pair of upset wins. First, he traveled to the UK and defeated Terry Flanagan by split decision to win the vacant title belt in Flanagan’s backyard. Then, Hooker traveled to number one contender Alex Saucedo’s hometown of Oklahoma City and stopped him in seven rounds. Hooker, 29, is improving each time out and starting to put all his natural talent together to become one of the best fighters in a stacked 140-pound weight class.

LesPierre, 33, is taking a big step up in class in facing Hooker. Ranked number ten by the WBO, LesPierre went 3-0 with 2 knockouts in 2018 including a decision win against the previously undefeated Noel Murphy to climb the rankings. He can best be described as a slick southpaw who will try to use counter punching and defense to upend Hooker.

In a crucial light heavyweight crossroads fight, Callum Johnson (17-1, 12 KO’s) takes on Sean Monaghan (29-2, 17 KO’s) in a scheduled ten round bout. Both Johnson and Monaghan are coming off losses and need a win to get back into contention in the light heavyweight division. They are also both come forward brawlers with limited defense. Given their styles, this fight could easily steal the show.

Heavyweights Sergey Kuzmin (14-0, 11 KO’s) and Joey Dawejko (19-6-4, 11 KO’s) will tangle in a ten round scheduled contest. Kuzmin is a former well decorated amateur coming off three consecutive knockout wins in 2018. Dawejko is a durable heavyweight who is coming off back to back decision losses in 2018 to contenders Bryant Jennings and Andrey Fedosov.

Former 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Yamaguchi Falcao (16-0, 7 KO’s) takes a step up in class when he faces veteran pro Paul Mendez (20-3-2, 10 KO’s) in a middleweight bout.

Also on the card light heavyweight prospect Junior Younan (14-0-1, 10 KO’s) is slated to return to the ring and blue chip 140-pound prospect Otha Jones III from Toledo, OH is set to make his pro debut.

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